Arch Linux

exodist

Member

Registered: 2017-03-22

Posts: 14

Nvidia + Intel broke on last update

I have a laptop that has both an nvidia card and an intel card.
I have had zero x11 config files since setting up arch about a year ago. So all my /etc/xorg* stuff is empty except where there are defaults, nothing related to cards, that has not changed, so no config to share.
I do have /etc/modules.load.d/nvidia.conf which loads the nvidia module
I have a perl script that runs once X starts that scans the output of xrandr to check what displays are connected and picks one of my preset resolution/multi-screen combinations. It is boring and not useful to share as my problem comes before the script is run.

Now, I typically have my 4k monitor connected to my laptop, but sometimes I use the laptop without it.

Up until the latest update X would start, and xrandr would show my laptop screen connected, and my 4k connected, and all my other screen connectors (hdmi's, etc).

After the last update the laptop boots and it appears to only use intel, my xrandr output only shows one connector, and the laptop builtin screen is on it. The xorg logs show that it tried to load nvidia, apparently succceeded, but then did nothing with it.

GLXInfo:

name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4

I tried using nvidia-xconfig, then rebooting. This gave me the opposite problem! IT loaded the nvidia card, but only detected my 4k monitor, the xrandr output shows all my output ports, but apparently does not notice my built-in laptop display as being a thing!

I then stripped the xorg config down to just 2 device specifications, one nvidia, the other intel, booted to a blank screen, the logs said no screens found

One other note, I do use a bootsplash using plymouth. When I do boot into nvidia the built-in screen seems to be locked on my bootsplash, so I suspect a recent update caused a glitch where the bootsplash does not hand the screen over to the nvidia driver when X starts?

I am completely stuck now, I seem to be able to only use 1 screen at a time, and the built-in screen can only use intel. I have never needed to configure X before, been running this arch install for over a year updating every couple weeks, and this is the first time this issue has come up.

exodist

Member

Registered: 2017-03-22

Posts: 14

Re: Nvidia + Intel broke on last update

Additional things I have tried now:

I have tried using nomodeset on the kernel command line, which makes nothing work when there is no xorg config, but the nvidia-only config works only for external monitor
Tried using the nvidia_drm modeset instead of the i915, only nvidia works, and still only on the external monitor

exodist

Member

Registered: 2017-03-22

Posts: 14

Re: Nvidia + Intel broke on last update

I found a workaround, though not a true fix.

I set things up using https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NV … phics_only  Which finally let me use both screens at once, nvidia on both. I did however delete the .xinitrc it told me to create as it was messing up my other config, stuff still worked.

The reason this workaround is sufficient is because I added a second boot option called no-nvidia where I use module_blacklist on the kernel command line to blacklist the nvidia driver, when I do so the system will still boot and let me use the intel driver for the builtin display, effectively letting me do intel-only as needed.

Ideally whatever broke the "just works" behavior would be fixed.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,237

Re: Nvidia + Intel broke on last update

That config does fix what was broken before. The fact that it just "worked" originally is because that config was provided as part of the package, which made some implicit assumptions that don't hold true for every setup, see https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=251846

exodist

Member

Registered: 2017-03-22

Posts: 14

Re: Nvidia + Intel broke on last update

That config does fix what was broken before. The fact that it just "worked" originally is because that config was provided as part of the package, which made some implicit assumptions that don't hold true for every setup, see https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=251846

Ah, that would have been useful information to have. I tried google searches and found nothing useful, arch and nvidia as keywords. Eventually I tried the "just nvidia" out of desperation to actually be able to get work done. If there had been some kind of easy to find/google *thing*, or a note when pacman was updating the package (one that forces acknowledgement) that told me to do that I would have been spared a day of stress, frustration, and fear of not being able to do my work.

I understand the reasoning for the change, but something that can instantly break a ton of users experiences seems like it should have had some method to notify people.